Sofia Zoo (Sofiiska Zoologicheska Gradina)

The Sofia zoo is the oldest and the biggest on the Balkan peninsula and one of the oldest in Europe. The new location of the zoo and the zoo itself is not as pleasant as the old one but still it is worth visiting because of the wide variety of species represented there.

The zoo keeps many different and exotic representatives of the fauna, among which – elephants, bears, lions, jaguars, cheetahs, deer, lamas, wild goats, ostrich, bearded eagles, pigeons, turtles and many others.

What I do not like of the place that there is too much concrete and sometimes there are no signs, so you have no idea what kind of animal you are looking at.

What you see on the picture is the bear called Mariana :)

Some history: It was founded in the beginning of 1888. It was initially settled in the park of the former royal palace, due to the fact that Tsar Ferdinant I had been quite interested in collecting wild animals, especially birds.

Consequently, Ferdinant ordered an area for a zoo to be destined in the former botany garden, which was situated in the plot between the present streets: Evlogi Georgiev Blvd., Ruski Blvd., Tolbuhin Blvd. and Gurko Str. At the time that plot had been at the end of the town of Sofia.

The Sofia zoo was moved to its newest location in 1986. Today it is located between Dianabath and Hladilnika residential areas and occupies an area of about 360dk.

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